Let me lay it out straight in the beginning, we Indians are big time suckers for simplicity in others. It is not that we ourselves aspire to be simple but attribute unnecessary importance to it in others. Just that virtue is enough for us to weave magical stories around a person and see him as a messiah who will emancipate us from all evils. In this child like wide eyed innocent chase of simplicity, we forget the qualities that are really necessary to do someone’s job.
Case in point, Arvind Kejriwal and AAP. Folklores were weaved around AK’s simplicity and his party’s candidates, on a daily basis we were bombarded with their spartan lifestyle stories. How come it occurred to no one to ask the questions that really mattered? Is being a simpleton really enough to be an effective administrator? How well did these people perform in their previous jobs? What extraordinary achievements did they unlock in their past endeavors? Do they have the skills to govern and deliver? Instead of asking these pertinent questions we were wallowing in their hallowed simplicity.
A simpleton(aam admi) should not try to be a leader. Leadership is not for the faint hearted, it is a game of thrones. A leader is someone who tries to move a collective group of people towards a single goal and when there is a group of people there will always be mismatches, heart burns and politics. An effective leader should know how to deal with this and make the right calls most of the time, an aam admi is not suited for this role. If someone plays this role well, he is not an aam admi because not everyone is born a leader nor has the leadership skills.
Yes, leading a simplistic lifestyle trumps a hedonistic one governed by avarice any day but put the full stop there, it does not translate into one being an able administrator or being at the top of one’s job. I would any day prefer a Ferrari driving, Armani wearing, Gucci slipping chief minister who has a vision and track record than a slipper wearing one who has absolutely no idea how to govern and deliver.
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